(单词翻译:单击)
Imagine traveling in a foreign country when you learn the news of your father's death. Now, imagine that death means you are now at the helm of the British Empire. This is how Queen Elizabeth II discovered she would no longer be a Princess, but instead would be Queen of the most powerful empire in history. She was only 25 years old, and would soon become the head of one of the world's most powerful monarchies; a post she would hold for much of the 20th Century... Elizabeth wasn't even supposed to be Queen. But as the old saying goes, "when humans plan, God laughs."
想象一下，当你在外国旅游时，听到自己的父亲去世的消息会是什么样子。现在，想象一下，他的去世意味着你要成为大英帝国的掌权者。就是这样，伊丽莎白二世意识到她不再是公主，而是掌管着历史上最强大帝国的女王。她当时才25岁，然后马上就要成为世界上最强大君主制国家之一的君主，而20世纪的大部分时间内都由她担任这一职位。伊丽莎白本不该成为女王。但正如那句老话所说：“人类一计划，上帝就发笑。”
Early Life
早年生活
Elizabeth was born on April 21, 1926, to the Duke and Duchess of York. Her father, Prince Albert, was at that time second in line to the monarchy, following the current King, George V, and his older brother, Edward, Prince of Wales. And should her parents, or Prince Albert, have had a son, the male heirs would jump ahead of Elizabeth in the line of succession. It was Elizabeth's Uncle Edward, the Prince of Wales, whose behavior altered this line of succession. In love with an American divorcee, Edward abdicated the throne in 1936 amid a public uproar about his love life... Elizabeth's father became King George VI, and Elizabeth became next in line to the throne at the age of just ten. Reportedly, Elizabeth's younger sister Margaret told her "Poor you," upon learning the news of the new line of succession... Before the family was thrust into the role of monarchs, Elizabeth, Margaret, and their parents lived a relatively quiet life split between homes in London and the countryside. Elizabeth was educated at home by a governess. She wasn't around children her own age, with the exception of her sister, a somewhat lonely experience she tried to avoid for her own children. During these lessons, Elizabeth enjoyed learning about history and also showed herself to be a responsible, organized child. She even insisted on properly setting up her toy horses before bed each night, making sure each was unsaddled and fed.
约克公爵夫妇在1926年4月21日生下伊丽莎白。她的父亲阿尔伯特王子是王位第二继承人，第一继承人是他的哥哥：威尔士亲王爱德华，当时的国王是乔治五世。如果她父母有个儿子的话，男性继承人就会排在伊丽莎白之前。正是伊丽莎白的伯父、威尔士亲王爱德华的举动改变了继位顺序。爱德华爱上了一位离婚的美国女子，于是在1936年退位，他的这段爱情引起了一片哗然……伊丽莎白的父亲成为了乔治六世，年仅10岁的她就成为了下一位继承人。据说，伊丽莎白的妹妹玛格丽特在听到新的继位顺序时，对她说：“你真可怜。”在一家人卷入君主角色前，伊丽莎白、玛格丽特和她们的父母都过着平静的生活，他们在伦敦住过，也在郊外住过。伊丽莎白由一名女家庭教师教导。除了她的妹妹以外，伊丽莎白没有和同龄人一起玩耍，她不想让她的孩子经历这种孤独。伊丽莎白喜欢学习历史，在上课期间，她被认为是个负责且有条理的孩子。她甚至坚持在每天晚上睡觉之前，给自己的每只玩具马都解鞍、喂食。
As intelligent and responsible as she showed herself to be, Elizabeth still showed herself to be like many other children in one regard... She had trouble pronouncing her own name. Instead of 'Elizabeth', she said 'Lilibet'. As a result, the nickname stuck, and it was what her close family would come to know her as. As Elizabeth grew older, and became next in line to the throne, more emphasis was placed on formal education. As a 12-year-old, she was taught constitutional history from a member of Eton's faculty, and the Archbishop of Canterbury was her religion instructor. It was not exactly a typically education... But it wasn't all dry, scholastic studies - being the daughter of a King does have its perks, after all. To help increase Elizabeth's social reach and outdoors education, a Buckingham Palace chapter of the Girl Guides was started. Each Wednesday afternoon, twenty fortunate girls were welcomed to the palace to take part in outdoors-oriented activities and be a part of the future Queen's social circle...
虽然伊丽莎白既聪明又负责，但她依然犯了一个许多孩子都会犯的错误……她没法正确讲出自己的名字。她不说“伊丽莎白”，而说“莉莉白”。因此，这便成了她的小名，关系亲密的家庭成员就这样称呼她。随着伊丽莎白一天天长大，而且她是王位的继承人，他们便更加重视她的正规教育。在她12岁时，一名伊顿公学的老师教了她宪法史，而坎特伯雷大主教指导她学习宗教知识。这不是普遍意义上的教育……但也不全是枯燥无味的学术知识——当国王的女儿还是有好处的。为了扩大伊丽莎白的社交圈、增强户外学习，白金汉宫女童子军成立了。每周三下午，20名幸运的女孩来到白金汉宫参加户外活动，并成为未来女王社交圈内的一员……
War
战争
But the comfortable, innocent childhood of Elizabeth was not to last. Coming of age in the 1930s, her life would be affected by World War Two before she turned 15. By 1939, England was at war, and though pressure mounted to send Elizabeth and Margaret to Canada, their mother would hear of no such thing... Instead, they were sent to live at Windsor Castle in 1940. This served two purposes - keeping Elizabeth and Margaret safer than they might otherwise be in London, but also helping to show the strength of the country in a time of terrible upheaval and fear. If England was safe enough for the princesses, then it was safe enough for the rest of the country too, and Brits should be proud and patriotic to do their duty for the war, just like the young princesses were doing. While the royal sisters were staying in a castle and were closely watched over, that does not mean the princesses were completely exempt from all of the fears and uncertainty of war. While they were staying at Windsor, hundreds of bombs were dropped in the area and like so many of their countrymen, Elizabeth and Margaret were roused from bed in the middle of the night, rushed to bomb shelters, and kept on constant alert for the air raid siren.
但伊丽莎白舒适无忧的童年并不长久。上世纪30年代，在她步入15岁之前，她的生活就受到了二战的影响。1939年，英国正在打仗，将伊丽莎白和玛格丽特送到加拿大的呼声越来越大，给二人的母亲带来了很大的压力，尽管如此，她们的母亲也没有这么做……而是在1940年将她们送到温莎城堡居住。这有两重目的：一是让伊丽莎白和玛格丽特比在伦敦住得更加安全，二是展示出该国在巨变和恐慌之中仍能保持强大。如果对于公主而言，英国十分安全，那么对于其他国民而言，英国也是足够安全的，英国人民应该倍感自豪和爱国，并履行自己战时的义务，如同小公主们一样。这对王室姐妹在城堡里居住并且被悉心看管，但这并不意味着公主们完全不受到战争带来的恐慌和不确定性的影响。她们住在温莎城堡期间，几百个炸弹扔了进来，像许多国民一样，伊丽莎白和玛格丽特在半夜被叫醒，飞速跑到防空洞内，听着空袭警报，一直保持警备状态。
In October of 1940, at the age of fourteen, Elizabeth gave a radio address that was heard throughout England and North America. She discussed the situation she and Margaret were in, talking about how they understood what their evacuated peers were feeling. They talked about being separated from their loved ones and living in a world turned upside down by violence. But Elizabeth wanted to do more for her country than speak on the radio... She was not yet 18, and it wasn't until near the end of the war that she was given the opportunity to serve as a trainee ambulance driver. She learned about car repair, and photos of her working became iconic images of the British war effort. On VE Day, she wore her uniform and stood on the balcony with Prime Minister Churchill and her parents. Elizabeth was not yet Queen, but even as a teenager, she had shown herself to be a leader.
1940年10月，14岁的伊丽莎白做了广播演讲，英国上下和北美都能听到。她描述了自己和玛格丽特所处的情况，讲了撤退的同龄人作何感受。她们讲了与自己所爱的人分开、生活在一个被暴力搅乱的世界。但除了广播演讲，伊丽莎白想为这个国家做更多的事……她还没到18岁，而直到战争快结束时才给了她一个当救护车实习司机的机会。她学会了修车，她工作时的照片成了英国战时努力的标志性画面。在欧洲胜利日那天，她身着制服，与丘吉尔首相以及她的父母一起站在露台上。当时，伊丽莎白还不是女王，但少女时的她已经显露出了领袖气质。
Marriage
婚姻
The war ended in 1945, but its aftermath remained, even for royalty. When Elizabeth married two years after the end of the war, she purchased the fabric for her wedding gown using ration coupons. But her dress was hardly a dreary affair; it was made of silk and decorated with over 10,000 pearls. Her groom was Prince Philip of Greece, a man who had been in and out of Elizabeth's life since she was only 13 years old. As second cousins, they saw each other at family functions throughout their lives. Teenage Elizabeth had been intrigued by Philip since meeting him in her early teens, but it was when Elizabeth was 17 and he 22 that the Prince began to consider marrying her. Now as we mentioned, they were second-cousins, but such a marriage between cousins is hardly unusual for royalty. Philip was born in Greece, and was a member of the line of succession to the Greek throne. However, he gave up his position in the line of succession to become a naturalized British citizen. The night before their wedding he was made the Duke of Edinburgh.
1945年，战争结束，但余波未平，王室也是如此。战争结束的两年后，伊丽莎白结婚了，她用配给券购买了婚纱所需的布料。但她的裙子一点也不单调，它由丝绸制成，上面装饰了一万余颗珍珠。伊丽莎白的新郎是希腊王子菲利普，她13岁之后，这名男子就在她的生活中不时出现。二人是表亲，他们在家庭聚会上经常碰面。自从伊丽莎白十岁出头遇到菲利普时，他就激起了她的好奇心，但伊丽莎白17岁、菲利普22岁时，他们才谈婚论嫁。正如我们所提到的那样，他们是表亲，但表亲婚姻在王室十分普遍。菲利普出生在希腊，他拥有希腊王室继承权。然而，他放弃了继承权，加入了英国国籍。在婚礼的前一晚，他成为了爱丁堡公爵。
The two announced their engagement in July of 1947, celebrating the happy occasion with a garden party. In photos from the party, Elizabeth is unabashedly excited, while Philip gazes down at her adoringly. Only four months later, in November of 1947, the two were married in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York performed the rite, with royalty around the world in attendance. 200 million commoners were able to listen in via a BBC radio broadcast. After the ceremony, Elizabeth and Philip, with Elizabeth still wearing her wedding gown, waved to cheering crowds from the balcony of Buckingham Palace. Shortly after, Elizabeth gave birth to their first child, Prince Charles, in 1948. A daughter, Anne, was added to the family in 1950. It would be over a decade before Elizabeth gave birth to her youngest sons, Prince Edward and Prince Andrew. As interesting as said here, Elizabeth was serving as Queen when Prince Edward and Prince Andrew were born, which makes her the first Queen in England's history to give birth while holding the title!
二人在1947年7月宣布订婚，并设露天宴会庆祝。从宴会照片可以看出，伊丽莎白毫不掩饰她的激动之情，而菲利普用饱含爱意的眼神凝视着她。四个月后，也就是1947年11月，二人在威斯敏斯特大教堂举行婚礼。坎特伯雷和约克大主教担任主持，各国的王室成员都参加了这一盛大仪式。两亿民众通过BBC广播收听了这一盛况。婚礼结束后，伊丽莎白和菲利普，（伊丽莎白依然身着婚纱）在白金汉宫的露台向欢呼的人们挥手致意。不久之后的1948年，伊丽莎白生下他们的第一个孩子：查尔斯王子。1950年，家庭里又添了一名成员：安妮公主。过了十多年，伊丽莎白才生下她的小儿子：爱德华王子和安德鲁王子。有趣的是，爱德华王子和安德鲁王子出生时，伊丽莎白已经是女王了，她是英国历史上首个在任期内生孩子的女王！
